The Lycan's Forbidden Mate

The carriage's jarring sound of the wheels scraping against the uneven ground kept repeating in her ears like an endless echo. Ophelia was on the verge of going insane. She had been in the carriage for what seemed like an eternity, and even though they had stopped over a large, nearly frozen ocean and flown over, Ophelia still felt exhausted despite the fact that she didn't fly; instead, the coachman man had transformed and carried the carriage with her inside alone and the horses outside, who shrieked all the way to Celestia, which they had at last arrived in.

Ophelia's eyes were fixed on her fidgeting fingers, and she continued to blow air into her mouth.

The wolves were not dumb. She knew word had gotten out that they were dragons in Celestia.

Sighing, she pulled a map out from her cloth bag, and after carefully studying it, realized they were close to the imperial city, which meant they were also close to the castle.

"Stop!" She yelled while vigorously pounding on the carriage's wooden surface. The horses' ferocious neighing caused the carriage to come to an immediate stop. She wanted to don makeup. They were only two hours away from the castle and it was already dark and chilly, and given the carriage's speed, they would undoubtedly arrive there in no more than an hour.

She took the dress out of her bag, relieved that the carriage was spacious, and started to stare at it as well as the golden mask.

"Will it be simple to kill him?" When it came to the task of killing Nikolai, who appeared to possess teleportation abilities, Ophelia wasn't cocky. She had no doubts about his power, and once she realized this, she started to wonder how in the world her fate could be linked to him and why everyone—aside from her father and Esteban—was so concerned.

Even in the dim light of the carriage caused by the crescent moonlight, her reflection could be seen as her thumb caressed the smooth surface of the mask. "I have no time to think." She muttered as she tightened her hold on the dress.

...

The coachman was keeping an eye on the horses outside the carriage to see if they had sustained any wounds during the journey. He was relieved that nobody had lost their footing during the flight to Celestia. After all, he did a good job of buckling them.

He shivered a lot because it was cold outside, but oddly enough, Celestia felt colder than Fireria. His body type could not endure Antica, which was regarded as the coldest place in the world. After all, it was where the ice dragons called home.

Observing that the horses showed no signs of damage, he made the decision to return to his seat in case the princess started to call his attention to something. As soon as he moved closer to the carriage, he felt a powerful chill run down his spine and a presence behind him, dripping with endless darkness.

He turned to face the being after exhaling a terrified gasp. Although the man's enormous, black angel wings were spread wide and visible to the eyes, he blended in well with the shadows. He seemed to be solely to blame for the moon's appearance behind the ominous clouds.

The coachman uttered, "D.. Dem.. demon," while choking back his fear at the indifferent expression on his face.

The horses' frightened neighing caused the demon to sigh deeply in frustration before his wings lowered and disappeared from view. "I can't believe I've become an errand boy for that prude."

The coachman took another frightened step back, but the demon quickly moved towards him, and grabbed hold of his neck. "Your life is pointless." He watched as blood poured out of the wound he had just caused while hissing and deftly dug his claws into the coachman's neck.

Suddenly, he gave a sharp wince as a dagger was abruptly thrown directly into his left shoulder from out of nowhere. Letting go of the coachman, he stumbled back.

"I think it's safe to say that your life is the pointless one here." Ophelia responded and walked over to the demon, who hissed as he pulled the dagger from his shoulder and threw it back at her. Ophelia caught the blade and smirked angrily.

The demon's dark eyes widened in the shadows. "Audaciously impressive." He then laughed, and Ophelia gripped the dagger by the handle with her bloody injured hand sighing deeply as the wound began to mend.

"Are you okay?" She questioned the coachman as she observed him rub his bloody neck.

"Yes, princess, I am." She stiffly smiled in response to his gracious reply before turning to look at the demon who was just standing there, watching her.

"Who the hell are you? How come you are here? Do you have a death wish?" She took a stern tone in her question as she clenched the dagger.

"I've come to take you with me to the castle. Do you believe you can simply enter there without dying?" The demon replied, and shortly after that, the moon emerged from the clouds, making him visible to the naked eye.

Ophelia could see the completely black, demon eyes. She narrowed her eyes at him, intelligent enough to recognize him as someone close to Nikolai Novikov, but she was baffled as to how he knew she was in Celestia and specifically at this location. She had been invited by the stupid lycan, who had no idea that she would only be there to kill him.

Ophelia became tense. What if he understood the real reason she was in Celestia?

"I don't need an escort, and no stinking dog is capable of killing me. Demon." She used the terms "demon" and "stinking dog." With powerful venom that caused the demon's face to smile. He seemed impressed, which bothered her and made her want to stab him in the forehead.

"You are a lady in Nikolai Novikov's court, princess, and you are astute enough to know that I am a close acquaintance with his royal highness." With a harsh voice, the demon spoke. "You undoubtedly appear underprepared, too."

Ophelia twitched her lips. Was he making fun of her? Underprepared? The dress was only draped over her shoulders.

"Very good. Take me there right away." She gave off a commanding growl. Venom once more: "Demon."

"Princess, you may address me as Rhaziel Petrov," He spoke abruptly, sounding a little irritated as well. By her? She was glad.

"I. don't. Care." She bluntly counted her words before turning to head back toward the carriage.

Rhaziel laughed incredulously. "This can't be good." He then gave the coachman a vicious glare while grinning slyly.